How to avoid force unwrapping a variable?

Question

How do I avoid using the ! operation doing a force unwrap as using this is usually a bad option.

What is the better option with code like the following where using

Answer 1

Before unwrapping an optional variable you should must check for nil otherwise your app will crash if variable contain nil. And checks can be performed in several ways like:

1. if let
2. guard
3. if-else
4. using ternary operator
5. Nil coalescing operator

And which one to use completely depends on requirement.

You can just replace this code

if middleName == nil {
    return "\(firstName) \(lastName)"
}else{
    return "\(firstName) \(middleName!) \(lastName)"
}

by

return "\(firstName)\(middleName != nil ? " \(middleName!) " : " " )\(lastName)"

OR

you can also use Nil coalescing operator (a ?? b) unwraps an optional a if it contains a value, or returns a default value b if a is nil.